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Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Voodoo Johnson are a Midlands based classic hard rock band with a sound that has been described as being similar to Aerosmith, Led Zepplin and Whitesnake with a little Queens of the Stone Age, and even sounding a little like later day Diamond Head to me! (the Nick Tart fronted version that is.)

Fans have been waiting for this album to drop for a while, after the band released two stunning Eps, (II & Into The Red), so expectations are high, but have the band managed to deliver? Well in a word, YES!!!!

10,000 Horses opens with 'Headstone', a stunning melodic yet heavy track, and is quickly followed by 'Sin!', another classic in the making, a great track that's going to be fun live!
Next up is 'Feel Karma' with defiant chorus, a classy track with some interesting riffs to boot! That's quickly followed by the epic that is 'End Of The Empire',Zepplin would be proud!
'You Will Never Know' is up next and is more of a straight a head rocker followed by 'It Doesn't Matter To Me', a mid tempo rock track, with a real laid back 70's feel to it.
'Burn' is a great rocker, whilst the re-worked 'Nowhere Inbetween' manages to make a brilliant song even better by trimming it down a little, yet maintaining that Six A.M feel that the original had.
'Sleepwalker' is a classic in the making, with its moody acoustic intro and keyboards steadily building into a epic song, whilst 'Rain' manages to showcase the bands softer side, being a lovely acoustic track. Closing track on this cd is 'Never Make It Out Alive', although it is marked as a bonus track and therefore maybe missing from some released versions of the album!), and is a stunner, a real epic like Seven years from the Into The Red EP.

This album really showcases the band at their best, I mean yes it would have been nice to have a real uptempo rocker on here, but all the tracks on offer are excellent, Kev Bayliss has a great set of pipes which he uses to full effect on 10,000 horses.

With a debut album this strong its no wonder music biz heavy weights such as Classic Rock Magazine, Bruce Dickinson (BBC Radio 6 Rock Show / Iron Maiden) and Alex Zane (Mars Planets Radio), have thrown their support behind the band

A truly fantastic debut album from a band who are destined to be huge!!!!!

Saturday, 3 July 2010

Today I'm proud to bring to you the details of the Ronnie James Dio tribute concert that have just been announced. Heaven & Hell have issued a press release (shown below) of the one off tribute show they're doing for Ronnie. It will be held on Saturday July 24, 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London.

This actually was a gig that Heaven & Hell had planned to play with Ronnie, but it was canceled with the rest of the dates a few weeks before Ronnie died. It apparently has been revived, and there's some details available now as to what's going on for this gig. This will be billed as "Heaven & Hell", and the lineup will be:

First, while the press release doesn't mention it, I'd assume that Scott Warren will play keyboards. When I first read the press release, I wondered with a lot of fans who the heck "Jorn Lande" is. From the PR, "Norwegian Jorn Lande is best known in the UK as the vocalist for power metal band Masterplan, he has also released many solo albums including a tribute to Ronnie." I had never heard of him before, so I looked him up. Holy crap is this guy good. I saw him do some covers of old Dio era Sabbath tracks, as well as Dio tracks, and he nailed it. What's amazing is he can mimic other singers too. Heard him do Ian Gillan on Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" - holy crap, he nailed it. I've included a few Youtube videos here with Jorn to check him out. I really dug what I heard from this guy today, made an immediate impact on me. You might also want to check out this link about Jorn, too. :)

If Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell ever wants to give it a go with another singer, I vote for Jorn Lande. Wow.

Anyway, I have no information at the moment regarding tickets, whether there will be more sold, or it's just people who already had festival tickets or whatnot. Hopefully more info on that comes out soon, at which point I'll announce it too.
I'd love to be able to fly over there for that, but no way I can afford to. If you're going to be at the concert, you blimy bastard. :)
I'm also trying to find out if they're recording this. If it's a charity thing, I would think DVD & CD sales would be a way to benefit that too. But as of right now, I don't know for sure.

A Tribute to Ronnie James Dio
At
High Voltage Festival, Saturday 24th July 2010

Proceeds to be donated to the
Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up And Shout" Cancer Fund

On the 16th May 2010 Ronnie James Dio passed away and the world of music mourned the loss of the greatest voice of heavy metal.
Dio was a truly iconic figure in music, whose work with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and most recently Heaven & Hell defined a genre.
Heaven & Hell were set to be on the road in Europe this summer when news came through that despite the amazing progress he was making Ronnie wouldn't be well enough to tour and those shows were canceled. But now, remaining members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice are set to play a one off show to celebrate his life and work. The band will be completed by Glenn Hughes and Jorn Lande who will both contribute vocals. Former Deep Purple / Black Sabbath star Glenn Hughes was a close friend of Ronnie's for many years and performed a musical tribute at Ronnie's funeral service in Los Angeles. Norwegian Jorn Lande is best known in the UK as the vocalist for power metal band Masterplan, he has also released many solo albums including a tribute to Ronnie. It promises to be a fitting celebration to a man that the metal scene owes so much.

"It's going to be a very emotional occasion. Ronnie loved his fans like no-one else I know - and they loved him. It will be a privilege doing a gig in honour of his memory, and to help towards his charity. Above all, I hope it encourages people to have regular check-ups for this disease. Early detection is vital, and greatly improves the chance of a cure. I know everyone has heard that a million times before, but seeing one of your best friends die because we all think we're immune from this disease, really brings it home. Do it for yourself, your family, your friends. Ronnie would be proud of you." Love & Peace, Geezer Butler

Tony Iommi says "Ronnie's passing has left a huge hole, we hadn't anywhere near finished what we set out to do as a band together. He was so looking forward to the European tour and we hope this appearance will go some way to fulfilling that."

The Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up And Shout" Cancer Fund Program Description
*The fund is committed to the early detection and prevention of cancer through facilitating access to medical screening and medical educational programs.
*The fund supports programs designed to integrate medical knowledge into local communities such as cancer screening programs, education on nutrition in cancer prevention, exercise and overall wellness."
*The goal of the fund is to reduce the risk of developing life threatening cancers by offering access to preventative medical services."
*Furthering the commitment for patients to access to quality medical care related to cancer, the fund seeks to assist families burdened by the cost of caring for loved ones with cancer."

Thursday, 1 July 2010

With the sad passing of a legend like Ronnie James Dio I guess it is inevitable the we'll get a flood of tribute albums, starting with this one by Jorn Lande, and to be honest, this is going to take some beating.

Opening with the only original track on the album, 'Song For Ronnie James', Jorn manages to set the perfect tone, with the aforementioned song being finely crafted very much in the Dio vein, and it fits well amongst the other 12 Dio classics.
The really smart thing here is that Jorn has not gone for the obvious song choices, instead choosing some of the more obscure album tracks.
'Invisible' follows 'Song For Ronnie James', with Jorn staying faithful to the original in both the arrangement and feel of the song. Jorn Lande's voice lends itself well to the songs too, with his Dio mixed with Coverdale vibe. An absolutely brilliant version of 'Shame On The Night' follows, and I have to say, I may even prefer this to the original!
'Push', originally from Killing The Dragon is up next, followed by a rawking version of 'Stand Up And Shout' A great version of the Dio classic 'Dint Talk To Strangers' is up next, again with Jorn putting in a stunning performance. 'Lord Of The Last Day', 'Night People' and 'Sacred Heart' follows before we get to possibly the albums highlight, 'Sunset Superman'. Here n and the guys really do find the heart and soul of the song, absolutely stunning!
A short Black Sabbath medley is up next, with Jorn managing to combine 'Lonely Is The Word', with 'Letters From earth' and the ending of 'Sign Of The Southern Cross', and by god, it works really well.
Next up is a breath taking version of Rainbows 'Kill The King', before the album closes out a live version of 'Straight Through The Heart'.

If ever Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are considering a tribute concert of some kind for the late Ronnie James Dio then they simply have to ensure Jorn is involved in some way!
This is the very first tribute album for Dio, and will probably remain the best for some years to come!

Willie Dowling and Jackdaw4 return with their third full length album. As ever the song writing and performance's on display here really are top draw! Great tune, followed by great tune, followed, well you get the idea right?

Stand out tracks for me include, 'Everyone Becomes The Road They Take', 'Wire to the Wire',(which is simply amazing!), 'We Sold It All', 'Baby I'm A Killer' and Waiting To Die'.
This album has a kind of 70's thing going on, and at times it reminds me of some of Queens work from the early 70's!
The Eternal Struggle For Justice, as an album, has more in common with Jackdaw4's second album, Bipolar Diversions than the bands debut Gramophone Logic release, lacking the rockier tracks like 'King For A Day' and 'This Is Your Life', but it's still a power pop classic, and probably the best power pop album to be released in 2010.
Willie Dowling is one of the best song writers of his generation, and really shows it here with his dry humour and dark sarcasm in his lyrics!

The latest release from UK rock hotshots, Black Spiders, is this new four track Ep, No Goats In The Omen.

Opening with 'Just Like A Woman', with its classic 70's feel and sound, a great way to start things off. Next Up is 'D-B', together with its Clash esque riff's, continuing the vibe. 'Cold Dead Hands' follows, again with that laid back 70's vibe, yet enthused with -plenty of energy. 'No Class' close's things out, pretty much as they started out.
A great EP, and I've got to tell ya, I personally cant wait for the album!

The original shock rocker has decided to re-record five Cooper classic,s for this itunes only release. 'Schools Out', 'No More Mr Nice Guy', Elected', Eighteen' and 'Welcome To My Nightmare' are the classics in question.
As you would expect, Alice remains very faithful to the originals, maintaining that classic 70's era Cooper sound, with a really crisp and clean production, which in many ways enhances these new versions. I love all five songs here, and if I had to find faults, then it would be with Alice's vocals on 'Elected', where to me he just seems to be struggling.
Worth buying? Probably only for the completest's amongst us, as the songs remain so faithful to the originals, but a great little EP non the less!

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